The Bristol Academy Flyers got off to a great start in 2008 with an impressive 86-82 away victory over the Coventry Crusaders. This win has moved the Bristol side into the top four of the league in the club’s first year of National league Division 1 basketball.

The hosts started strongly and despite the Flyers comeback halfway through the quarter to tie the game at 16, Coventry went into the first break with a 28-22 lead. The second period however proved different as the Flyers tightened their defense and kept the Crusaders to just 14 points in the period. The Bristol team capitalized on its defensive intensity to take a two point lead into the locker rooms after a Ryan Williams uncontested three point shot.

The Flyers started the second half determined to extend their lead. American import, Ryan Williams and English sensation, Greg Streete led the way for Bristol to build a 5 point lead at the end of the third period. A 9 to 3 point tear at the start of the 4th quarter saw Bristol’s lead grow to nine.

However the Crusaders did not give up and with 3 consecutive three point bombs the game was tied 74 a piece with 5 minutes left. A big three pointer from Coventry’s Clarke gave Crusaders a 2 point lead, their first lead since the first quarter. Bristol’s Greg Streete responded with confidence nailing both of his free throw shots to tie the game at 79, giving the Flyers a so much needed boost. The Flyers never looked back again as a great offensive play by Adam Simons and good free throw shooting from the whole team would seal the game for the South West side, 82 to 86.

Top scorers for the Flyers were Ryan Williams and Adam Simons with 32 and 18 points respectively.

Coach Kapoulas was pleased about the Flyers win “We managed to find our rhythm despite Coventry’s outstanding shooting and with great team defense we took a nine point lead. The last five minutes of the game we did not make good decisions and gave a chance to Coventry to get back in the game. Having said this, we had a couple of really good defensive plays at the end to win the game and I am satisfied of how are players responded under that kind of pressure”.

The next home game for the Bristol Academy Flyers is on Saturday 19th January. The game was originally scheduled for the 12th however due to Manchester participating in the National Cup final on the 13th January the game was changed to the 19th. Tip off on the 19th January will be at 7.30 pm at the Filton College WISE Arena. For tickets please contact Danny James on 07747487914

Flyers II Start 2008 with a great win.

Flyers II started 2008 on Sunday January 6th with a good win against local rivals Reading Rockets II. Flyers needed overtime to defeat the Rockets in a tough encounter at Filton College’s WISE Arena.

A poor start offensively left the flyers trailing 16 points to 9, midway through the first quarter, after Reading scored easily on numerous fast breaks opportunities. Flyers just could not find a fluency in their offence and made some poor decisions which Reading capitalized on. A flurry of 5 points from Jermaine Major including a crucial 3 pointer brought Flyers back into contention as the quarter finished in Readings favor 18 points to 14.

The Second quarter saw Flyers take control as they found some of the defensive intensity that they had not had in the first quarter. Steals from Paiva, Hogan and Ware lead to easy scores for the Flyers team. Young Edson Paiva scored 9 of his 12 points in the second quarter as Flyers pegged back the Reading team. Damon Dyer found his shooting touch inside as he scored to take Flyers into the half time break trailing by just 2 points.

The third quarter saw Flyers defense take control as they held Reading to just 13 points, Stephan Eyeson and Damon Dyer controlling the defensive and offensive rebounds. Dyer, Ware and Hogan combined for 15 points in the quarter which saw Dyer finish a huge alley-oop dunk from a Hogan assist to go into the final period two points in the lead 50 points to 48.

The fourth quarter saw both teams exchange scores throughout the period with neither team taking full control of the game. The sixth minute saw Flyers spark a 5 point tear with a dunk from Dyer and a 3 point shot from Luis Ware giving the Flyers a slight advantage. Reading soon hit back to reduce the lead to 3 points where it remained until the final seconds. Flyers on 71 points and seemingly with the game won forgot about defensive assignments and Gave Readings Dan Mckay a last second buzzer beater for 3 points and taking the game into overtime.

A five minute overtime period started to try and edge a winner from this close fought affair. Flyers took first blood which was short lived when Dyer scored a jump shot which was answered by a Focordi two at the other end.

In the final 2 minutes as the teams traded baskets Flyers finally took control and opened the game up with a 7 point unanswered run which took them to 86 points leaving Reading chasing the game. Having little time to answer, Reading eventually capitulated losing the game 86 points to 80 on the final buzzer. Flyers now in 4th place in the division look to capitalize on this win and possibly move closer to the leagues top two teams.

Flyers scorers: J Major 14, Edson Paiva 13, Damon Dyer 12.

“This was a good display today after a long Christmas break for the team. We have some very tough games to come but having some healthy players back from the break who had been injured pre Christmas and the return of 6”9 German in February will only add to the strength of this team. I don’t think we have fielded the strongest team possible at all during this season but hopefully all going well we should finish the year strongly with a fully fit squad. This should upset the form books with some teams and potentially open up this league for anybody to take the final silverware.” Danny James, Coach.